64 new of 290 responses total.
Definitely! I love how Ricki is supposed to be unattractive... she's big, with even bigger hair, and gets the Elvis look-alike, the guy all the girls are crazy for. Gotta love the Hefty Hideaway plugs. I laugh every time I think of Deborah Harry's hairdo that concealed the bomb. And Sonny Bono could still be married to Cher for all I care now, he has my undying devotion for being in that film. ::Pause for moment of silence::
hah ha! i named my border collie for the owner of Hefty Hideaway! Mister Pinky.
An earlier cinematic version of the sinking of the Titanic, A NIGHT TO REMEMBER from 1958, is being broadcast on the cable channel American Movie Classics at 0200 Eastern Friday night/Saturday morning. There may be other broadcasts. I'm watching an early broadcast now; it's an interesting comparison to the James Cameron film.
My fave line from Hairspray, via Divine as the mother: "Wilbur... it's the times. They're a-changin'. Somethin's blowin' in the wind... Fetch me my diet pill, would you hon?"
The Governess was rather good, pretty, interesting, and left us with some research inteh costume area to do..
9 am on AMC-- Sullivan's Travels. DON'T MISS IT!! This film must be seen by all who are serious about movies and film. Seeing will change you for the better. It is so good, that Larry Kasdan wove a reference into Grand Canyon, not that GC was anything to write to Mom about. ;)
"The Hanging Garden" is a disturbing film with an unusual story line - what would happen if someone hadn't committed suicide? I'm still thinking about it but I already know the choice to die wasn't necessarily wrong. It's a Canadian film now showing at The Michigan.
RE #233 Wasn't that similar to Jimmy Stewart's character in _It's A Wonderful Life_ wishing he never was born?
Sounds like this one supports the opposite point of view?
It's not as easy as opposite points of view.
"The Fifth Element" -- A Wish I'd seen this earlier. Very funny sci-fi, made by a French director (but it's all in English, Bruce Willis, etc). The non-typical visual look and costumes are incredible, esp. the way details are revealed. In one part, we see the "bad guy thugs" wearing typical sci-fi bad guy thugs type costumes, basically another adaption of the black jacket look. Later on, we see them walking away from the camera, revealing that the uniforms include black rubber shorts with hairy legs! Very funny, and this sort of thing happens a number of times. I'd rate this up there with Terry Gilliam's "Brazil" or the Syvester Stallone movie "Demolition Man". (Demolition Man *was* a typical Stallone action film... except that it was also a very funny sci-fi film at the same time, with lots of creative detail)
the costumes were Jean-Paul Gautier having *way* too much fun..it was cute
SHALL WE DANCE? (A) -- The focus on body-movement in this movie eventually sensitizes you to the movements of the characters to the degree that you start to think they're *all* dancing, all the time. Then it hits you that they *are* all dancing, all the time, from the positioning and repositioning of a group of workers in an office to something as simple as two people meeting on a staircase and doing the "After you. No, after *you*" dance. The device transforms what is essentially a sentimental made- for-TV movie, suitable for Hallmark specials, into a brilliantly inventive piece of work. Quite amazing. Above all, the main character's transformation from inhibited businessman to daring ballroom dancer is made completely believable by the actor who plays him. The thought of coordinating the dancee steps with the emotions is straight out of 1950s Hollywood.
(Studio) 54 -- Oh, so that was Mike Meyers in there? I was pleased that the film did not end up like a Saturday Night Rerun skit that goes on for 90 minutes. In fact, the Mike Meyers persona disappeared and his character prevailed.
I rate Shall We Dance B+. The pace could have been picked up slightly, but I thought the casting was really something. I wish and wish that directors would give more time to the feet of dancers. The theme of marital infidelity was handled so differently from the recent portrayal of adulterous relationships as signifiers of something passionate and desireable.
Grosse Pointe Blank- 2 1/2 stars.
Caught this one on cable tonight, and I must say that the first part of
the movie was quirky and funny, but then it denegrated into nothingness. I
was disappointed in the sets, and locations, (remember, I AM from the east
side of Detroit, and this particular area was home to me for a lot of years.)
Cusak was good, and so was Driver. I did like the last part, though and
I guess I would recommend seeing it, but for God's sake, see it for a
buck or on cable.
Saw Good Morning Vietnam for the first time yesterday. Quite entertaining, and it actually made me think about the conflict as well. Some good points.
Good Morning, Vietnam is one of my all time favorite movies. It's even better if you're a fan of Barry Levinson.
It's a superb example of the brilliance of Robin Williams. In one movie he's both hilarious comedic one-liner actor and a dramatic artist at the same time.
I agree. Williams has spectacular range.
Some recent rentals: TITANIC (still a solid A) -- I remember thinking when I saw it in the theater what a sumptuously visual movie this is, and that there are images in it I'll never forget: the ship upending and breaking in two and the stern falling hugely back into the sea; the shelves of never-used plates tilting and sending their contents to the hard floor; Kate Winslet on her back on a drifting headboard, pale and frozen, looking up at the stars and singing a little song at them. There is one image that tops them all, though: seen from below, the dead body of a young woman hangs suspended in the submerged ballroom, which is still lit from above by the ship's lights, her limbs sprawling gracefully, her voluminous and complex nightgown floating around her. Where have I seen that before? A Victorian Ophelia? A Renaissance angel? Anyway, it's a movie made by someone with an artist's eye for such things. To think of throwing such an image into the film -- the sheer heedless extravagance. Cameron loves details. [When I was a kid, my favorite cartoonist was a man named Wallace Wood, and what I loved most about his drawings was the fantastic amount of detail he filled them with, all more or less functional. You could spend fifteen minutes on each frame. That sort of thing.] SENSELESS (C) -- It starts off with a potentially hilarious premise, and it does run with it for a while, but then it kind of falls apart. The tacked-on ending, wherein the main character, who accomplishes all kinds of miracles due to a sense-enhancing drug, is required to spend a year earning the job of his dreams the hard and normal way, is, paradoxically, as phony as can be. DREAM FOR AN INSOMNIAC (B+) -- So self-consciously aimed at the 20-30 generation that I almost felt as if I were eavesdropping. Jennifer Aniston is stuck playing a version of Rachel again, as she seems to be stuck in all her movies. (There's even a Central Perk-y coffee shop where everyone works or meets.) The movie does grab your attention, though, and eventually you actually start to care about the characters. I guess I should admit the ending is "contrived" or "too pat." Didn't bother me. Plus, Ione Skye is adorable. (For you above-it-all cineastes, Rachel is the character Jennifer Aniston plays on the NBC Thursday night sitcom "Friends," and Central Perk is the name of the coffee house she used to work at. It used to be one of my favorite TV shows, but it's become an institution and lost its edge. It still has its moments, though.)
The one good thing about "Senseless": It's most assuredly the last time David Spade will play a snobby college kid.
SLUMS OF BEVERLY HILLS (C) -- Cute is places, but it left me with a "So what?" impression when it was over. Marisa Tomei was qiute good. Maybe there's life after Vinnie after all.
[Re resp:247 - omigosh, you're a Wally Wood fan? Me too. Loved his stuff in Mad Magazine, Weird Science/Fantasy, and other E.C. comics.]
[He was amazing. My favorite Mad 'toonists were Wood, Kurtzman, Elder and Davis, in that order. I bet James Cameron's a Wallace Wood fan, too.] THE BORROWERS (B-) -- It kinda put me to sleep. I loved the way it inhabited its own weird little world. It reminded me a bit of Altman's POPEYE (A) in that one respect. Re SLUMS again: Whenever I see Alan Arkin in a movie like this, I think, "What a waste." But then I start trying to think of anything he ever did that wasn't a waste and I come up with WAIT UNTIL DARK (A). Why do I think he's so good, when he's obviously so bad? Are there some choice movies he's done that I'm forgetting?
Michael, are you forgetting such classic Arkin films as Big Trouble, and The In-Laws? Arkin's big thing is being Joe Normal, who is just waiting for some outside influence to muck it up.
I liked him in "Popi." What was the name of the one he was in with Sally Kellerman?
THE PEACEMAKER: Essentially an average James Bond movie, minus the humor. George Clooney was fun to watch. I was glad that Clooney and Nicole Kidman were too busy saving the world from stolen nuclear weapons to have time to leap into bed. A little on the slow side, but worth a rental if you are into the nuclear-weapons-thriller thing.
Current rental: ZERO EFFECT: Quirky mystery comedy with Bill Pullman as a modern-day eccentric, reclusive private investigator (with traits borrowed from Sherlock Holmes, Hercule Poirot, Nero Wolfe, etc), Ben Stiller as his perpetually exasperated front man, Ryan O'Neal as the rich client, and Kim Dickens as an object first of investigation, then affection. Cleverly written and directed by Jake Kasdan (son of director Lawrence Kasdan of "The Big Chill", "Accidental Tourist", "Grand Canyon", etc) with likeable performances all around. I enjoyed this a lot. Recommended.
I rented that too earlier last week, because I'd heard the reviews.
It was intellectually interesting, and I found myself pulled along by the
desire to see how the story turned out, but I found the movie itself
emotionally uninvolving.
Pullman and Stiller seemed miscast to me. The movie suffered from the "Ben Stiller Curse," which seems to have lifted recently in Something About Mary. For a while there, Stiller was the thinking man's Corey Feldman. The Arkin / Kellerman movie was Last of the Red Hot Lovers. Arkin was in GLENGARRY GLEN ROSS (A), although he might not be the name that springs to mind when you think of that movie.
I first noticed (and enjoyed) Arkin's quirky style in Catch 22. He was perfectly cast.
THE APOSTLE (A) -- Robert Duvall is just amazing in this movie. Granted, the Oscars are more for entertainment than anything else, but still, I'll never understand why he didn't win for this role.
Re resp:256 - "Zero Effect" is definitely on the cerebral side. But I found myself interested in the characters and their motivations.
Re #259: The Oscars go mainly to films that make a LOT of money. Whether this is b/c the best performances bring in lots of paying customers, or b/c the Accademy is honoring "what works", or b/c they "hop on the bandwagon", I have no idea.
THE MAN IN THE IRON MASK (B-), starring boychild Leonardo DiCaprio, and freaky Gerard Depardieu. The movie holds your attention. Humor is frequent but is quite bawdy and crass in some places. DiCaprio does not do it for me, sorry. He looks like he is 17. Some excellent cinematography. I liked it ok, but it didn't change my life or anything.
This item is from the Zentertainment webzine: Legendary director Akira Kurosawa died in Tokyo Sunday, at age 77, from a stroke. Kurosawa leaves behind such classics as THE SEVEN SAMURAI, RASHOMON, RAN, IKIRU, YOJIMBO (Sergio Leone's inspiration for FISTFULL OF DOLLARS), and THE HIDDEN FORTRESS, (George Lucas' inspiration for STAR WARS).
Yep, Kurosawa's death is a great loss to world cinema. His historical Samurai epics are his best-known works, but I am fond also of some of Kurosawa's "small" films with a contemporary setting: "Stray Dog", "High and Low", and "Rhapsody in August".
RASHOMON is, I believe, considered his masterpiece. It shows the same events through multiple points of view, and is considered the quintessential piece of that style. Any art that has a vaguely similar MO has the word "RASHOMON-like" in 100% of its reviews. Reviewers ignoring this rule are banished from journalism. :-)
Ever After: better than expected, if you don't expect much..good peasant costumes, german puff and slash!) but a lot of period mixing with everyone else...all in all...amusing, and with a very silly trip to meijers afterwards with friends I haven'tseen in a while, worth the ticket price
For those of you who might be interested: Movie director Peter Bogdanovich premiers the Toledo/Lucas County Public Library's 1998-1999 Authors! Authors! season on Tuesday, September 22, 1998 at 7 p.m. in the Great Hall of the Stranahan Theatre on Heatherdowns Boulevard. He is not only the recipient of film critic awards and Oscar nominations, but is also the author of "Who the Devil Made It," an intimate look at filmmaking through a collection of interviews with sixteen legendary film directors. He has also written nine other books,including "This is Orson Welles" and "John Ford." His own role as a movie director has included "The Last Picture Show," "What^Rs Up, Doc," "Paper Moon" and "Mask." His presentation includes clips from his own films and those of the directors in his book, as well as his dead-on impersonations of everyone from Alfred Hitchcock to Cary Grant. Tickets for Authors! Authors! programs cost $8. The doors of the Great Hall open at 6:15 p.m. For more information, call the Library at (419)259-5207.
i saw 'rhapsody in august' and really liked it, despite rechard gere.
What's the name of the movie that's coming out about a man searching for his wife after he himself has died? I think it stars Robin Williams. I think that the background for that movie kicked ass when I saw the preview before Ever After started.
We saw "Kiki's Delivery Service" last night -- three thumbs up. The Prices loved it.
I saw 'The Captain's paradise' with Alec Guinness, it was very..old, but it was mildly amusing for it to be better than packing..
Re 269: "What Dreams May Come." It was supposed to be out in August, now apparently it will open Oct 2. I bought the book (same author as "Some- where In Time) and on the cover it says ~THE BOOK MADE INTO THE HIT MOVIE" even thought there`s no way they could yet call it a hit yet. Ah, marketing.
Cool. Thanks for the info. Yeah, marketers are dumb.
Well guys you alll are saying of bullshit movies.I think thats because you havent seen "There is something about Mary" or "The mask of Zorro".I hope whoever has seen it liked it very mich.I am great fan of Salma Hayek.Can someone please send me some photo from Salma 's Gallery
Haven't had time for movies lately. Two on my "must see" list though are "Rounders" and "Touch of Evil".
re 273: Hey.
Silvia and I just saw "The Avengers." It really is as bad as they say.
I rented and watched Dragonheart - and I really liked it.
Rented HUSH (C) -- I think Jessica Lange might be too subtle an actor for this role. It was kind of painful watching her trying to file the edges off her talent. I wish she'd make more good movies, but I guess even she has to pay her bills. Something else that occurred to me while I was watching it was that Gwyneth Paltrow is really beautiful and has some good moves, so how come I don't remember ever noticing it before? When we tried to think of a single movie we'd ever seen her in, we came up with EMMA (B). But that's impossible, no? She's a famous celebrity, you see her everywhere. But a quick check of our 1,000-page little fat paperback listing of movies and actors found no mention of Paltrow. To try and shake off this weird unreal feeling I was having that Paltrow was one of those "famous for being famous" people, I checked IMDB and came up with 21 movies, most of which I'd never heard of. Even in the familiar ones, she had bit parts -- "Young Wendy" in HOOK (C), for example -- which explains her absence from the 1,000-page book. Weird.
Gwyneth Paltrow was in the recent film "A Perfect Murder". Again, she was pretty enough to look at but the apartment's decor stole most scenes. When I look at her I think of her mother, Blythe Danner, one of my favorite all-time actors who I wish had more screen time (along with Sissy Spacek and Jane Alexander).
Recent theater viewings: Saving Private Ryan (WOW!), The Truman Show (Very cool). Rentals: Mary SHelley's Frankenstein (fast forward to see how it ends), Beavis and Butthead Do America (pretty good)
Re #280: Yep, Gwyneth does get her looks from her mom, who is still gorgeous, imho. I liked Beavis and Butthead Do America, too, which I realize disqualifies me from having any of my opinions in this item taken seriously. Sigh.
Oh, wasn't Paltrow is the recent "Great Expectations"? Not a bad rental.
Paltrow had a starring role in "Hard Eight", an excellent but largely overlooked crime drama from a year or so ago.
I've seen a few movies lately that have really wow'd me, Saving Private Ryan, Primary Colors, and Jerry McGwire.
Recent rentals: WILD THINGS (B+) -- One of those twisty-turny plots where your list of suspects is supposed to include just about all the major characters before it's over. After a while, when two characters who haven't seemed to have any connection up to this point find themselve alone together, you expect them to start trading hastily whispered comments, and half the time, they do. One really nice thing about this movie is, the other half of the time, they don't. This gets *so* complex that they have to include a series of explanatory flashbacks during the closing credits. INCOGNITO (B-) -- The set up was fascinating, but the ensuing chase scenes, trial scenes and resolution scenes weren't as good. Nice location shots, however. The main character is an art forger, played by Jason Patric, who is a very understated Duchovnian or Cloonian actor. His father is played by Rod Steiger, who chews up all the scenery. Could happen, I guess.
We went to see Knock-Off this weekend because aandrea likes Jean-Claude Van Damme a lot. There were 4 other attendees at this movie, so I guess I can say there are some people with taste in Ann Arbor. We were the only ones in the theater at the end. The plot was such that, to enjoy it, it would have been better if we'd known the person who wrote it, in hopes they could give us an explanation. Neither of us could follow what was going on. Usually she can explain things for me, the way any normal person explains things for their retarded friends with whom they attend movies. Maybe we're both retarded. There were some weird special effects, which helped to confuse the plot even more, but had no other impact on the movie. This movie gave me a lot of respect for the craft of using special effects to contribute to the movie -- a thing which was done in Titanic, but not, unfortunately, in Knock-Off. I would say this movie didn't have any redeeming features. Andrea enjoyed seeing Van Damme in his bikini briefs.
While channel surfing late last week, I came across a B&W movie, featuring Anthony Quinn, drinking wine, abusing a young woman, speaking Italian. When they finally went to a commercial, they said La Strada will be right back. Much too late to watch the rest, what I did see was wonderful, and have added it to my list of 'would like to sees'. While visiting with my in-laws over the weekend, I caught the last hour of House of Cards on the Bravo channel. The ending was pretty good, and the camouflage scen was great! I wonder how it begins, tho?
"La Strada" is one of Federico Fellini's most admired films. It stars Anthony Quinn, Richard Basehart, and Giuiletta Masina (Fellini's wife). Widely available in video rental stores.
Thanks, I'll check it out!
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